The Collapse Of The Soviet Empire And Its Hegemony

During World War II, Germany’s military was superior to anyone else in the world, with far more advanced technology, tactics, and weaponry. They had a fearless leader who would stop at nothing to make his country great again. Their closest rival, the Soviet Union, was almost out of the picture with a death toll of over 26 million. On top of that, Germany had nothing to lose, and would not conceivably stop. So how then, with all odds against them, did the Allies win the war? A combination of factors affected Germany’s downfall, such as lack of morale, unwieldy weapons, and failure to work with its so-called allies.

But on the other side East Germany was not doing as well as West Germany was. East Germany was under the full influence of the Soviet union and was a Communist society when it became its own country. Do to the dragged economy and that the individual freedoms were restricted many citizens living in East Germany wanted to leave they could no longer stand the conditions in which they were living in.Many citizens gathered their things and left to th the West. Many of them made it across the border as for others were stopped along the way. From then on East Germany began to lose its population and labor force. As they lost more of their population the Soviets wanted to take over the West. They tried to threaten the United States by the use of nuclear weapon issue but the United States and all the other Western countries were very committed to protecting West Berlin.

Germany and The Soviet Union were not that different from each other. They had similar government ideas, mostly because their leaders were similar in personality. (Stalin: Inside the Terror) They grew up with the same ideas of a proper government being brought up with radical political thoughts. Hitler (the chancellor of Germany) and Stalin (Russia 's ruler) both were strong headed which lead to a strong military forces.(This Day in History: Adolf Hitler becomes president of Germany) With Germany and the Soviets wanting control over the smaller European countries, they both wanted the same thing from each other, no war. This lead to the nonaggression pact.

In 1945, one major war ended and another began. After World War II, the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union were involved in what became known as the Cold War, which was a period of mutual fear and distrust. The war was given the name "cold" because the two sides never actually came into direct armed conflict; it was a war of words and ideologies rather than a shooting war (Crawford, 2009, p. 6). The Soviet Union and the United States came out from World War II as the new world superpowers, and despite their common victory with the defeat of their enemies, their primary bond was broken. There were deep-rooted ideological, economic, and political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union prior to the Second World War. Their differences, most notably their political systems and their visions of a postwar Europe, were intensified as a result of their mutual suspicions and during and after the Second World War drove the allied nations into an ideological conflict that lasted for 45 years.

At this point in the war, the Soviet Union was taken over by Germany and was

The Cold War was a state of economic, diplomatic, and ideological discord among nations without armed conflict. The Cold War was between the United States and the USSR because these were the two major powers after WWII. Basically, the Cold War was a series of proxy wars that had taken place back in time involving surrounding countries. One of the main causes for Cold War was that the Soviet Union was spreading communism and the United States didn’t like that so they were trying to contain communism. However, in the end they failed. Many events took place in other countries. In Korea, Vietnam, Latin America, and China, communism took over; however, before it did, major wars had taken place. The cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union worsened the condition of countries involved. The Cold War broke countries into two parts that turned against each other, the United States and the Soviet Union used these countries to fight their war and caused a big disturbance to daily life, and the Communist States fought the Non-Communist States; however, the end results of these wars only caused more damage in these countries.

In 1989, the world saw the fall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.), which was also known as the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a block of 15 Communist Eastern European states that was ruled by one government with various puppet governments located throughout the states. Its collapse brought about new issues that the world had never had to deal with before. The fall of such a large block of Soviet states created many problems and some of the solutions that were used to solve these problems, as well as many of the tensions that were created during this time, still affect the world today. Some of the ramifications resulting from the Soviet Union’s collapse are still being felt; however, many problems have been solved

During the era of the Cold War, starting in 1947 and definitively ending in 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union faced off in conflicts with each other through smaller states.

To refresh your memory, at the end of World War II, the Allied powers divided Germany into four different zones. Decided at the Potsdam Conference, each separate zone was controlled by The United States, Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. (Rosenburg) But as the relationships between The Soviet Union and the rest of The Allied Powers quickly evaporated, aggression and power became the main focus. The United States, France, and Great Britain combined their zones, creating “West Germany”, and The Soviet controlled zoned turned into “East Germany” (Rosenburg). Being controlled by democratic nations, West Germany’s living conditions and economy were flourishing. Almost Miraculously. On the other

On May 8th, 1945, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel surrendered the German armed forces to the allies in Berlin, thus ending the war for Germany. The German people were then confronted by a situation never before experienced. All of Germany was occupied by foreign armies, their cities and infrastructure lay in ruins, and millions were homeless and starving. Following the unilateral surrender by Germany, the country was divided into four zones, governed by each of the allied powers: Britain, France, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As diplomacy between the West and the Soviet Union began to deteriorate, each zone became more self-sufficient and independent of the others. Tensions between the West and the Soviet Union also began to rise as it became apparent that the two super powers, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would vie for dominance throughout the world, each seeking to spread its ideology and stop the spread of the other’s. The first real exacerbation of this conflict came when the Soviet Union blockaded the divided city of Berlin, which lay in is zone of control. The U.S.S.R. wanted to test the Western resolve to hold Berlin and maintain control. The response the U.S. chose was to keep Berlin supplied by air, through constant resupply by aircraft, a feat never before accomplished. The airlift lasted for nearly eleven months and kept the Western controlled sectors of Berlin adequately supplied, and showed the Soviet Union the U.S.’s resolve to hold out against the spread of

By May 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade. It was not by negotiations or diplomatic intervention, but by the fact that Soviets no longer could claim any kind of benefit from it. The United States was prepared to feed Berlin via the airlift as long as possible.30 This also marks the end of joint governing. The United States created the German Federal Republic in May 1949 and the Soviets created the German Democratic Republic in October of 1949. What is important about this move is that the United States did not even discuss it with the Soviets, it was simply a logical step to create an independent Germany. Likewise was the Soviets’ creation of their own puppet government following riots in Eastern Germany during which they declared martial

In early September of 1945, Germany lay in total and utter ruins. In the years following World War Two, having been defeated, Germany was placed under allied occupation - divided into two main zones: West and East Germany. “West Germany was established on May 23, 1949, as one of two successor states—East Germany being the other.” ("Germany, West." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2015): 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.) East Germany was ruled by the Soviet Union whilst West was under the rule of the Allied Powers. A chancellor by the name of Konrad Adenauer was put into power and it is said under his rule that Germany flourished. This research seeks to find out whether his role was important in the

vAt the end of World War II, Germany was split into four sections, the eastern state occupied by the Russians turned into the German Democratic Republic in 1949, while the other three states became the (FRG). The two countries took very different paths, "The GDR developed a centrally planned socialist economy" while "The FRG adopted a social Market economy" (Marta). West Germany experienced a "post-war miracle economy" also known as "Wirtschaftswunder" (). East Germany had also been doing well themselves but with an increase of civil unrest and “indebtedness both to the West and to the Soviet Union was becoming a serious problem”(East Germany). On October 7, 1989, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Erich Honecker, the head of state, said “We shall still strive for the

International relations of West Germany followed its policy toward East Germany. West Germany’s unification policy can be divided into two major doctrines. First doctrine is the Westpolitik of Konrad Adenauer, who was the first leader of CDU and the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. Adenauer 's policy was based upon Policy of Strength (Politik der Stärke), and upon the so-called "magnet theory", in which a prosperous, democratic West Germany integrated with the West would act as a "magnet" that would eventually bring down the East German regime (Large, 1996). Thus, the two main points of Westpolitik was a reconciliation with France and participation in the Western alliance system. Adenauer’s Germany vigorously sought to solve vigilance and hostility of the Western countries under the binding force as a member of the alliance (Kim, 2016). In the Cold War era after the Second World War, the U.S. preferred Adenauer’s well-established pro-Western foreign policy to another alternative, SPD’s pro-Russian game. In this context, Adenauer denied the suggestion of the Soviet, demilitarization of Germany; because he believed West Germany would be able to absorb East Germany some day with the economic and military superiority under the NATO treaty. However, Westpolitik faced a criticism after the construction of the Berlin Wall

Along with every other nation around the globe, Germany has its own unique past. From the days previous to Bismarck to present time, the Germans have undergone significant trials and tribulations. Unfortunately for Germany the world will forever equate German history with Hitler and the Third Reich. As educated people, we need to be able to get past this stigma and appreciate the Germans for who they truly are. After the ending of the Second World War, Germany was divided in two: a free western Germany, and the communist East Germany. West Germany flourished while East Germany struggled to breathe under the heavy shadow of the Soviet Union. In 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, Germany finally became one again with the union of East